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Uphold Our Values

Published Thursday, April 20, 2017

To the Editor,

Like many of my fellow Montanans, I grew up with common sense politics. Politicians had to be moderate and reach across the aisle because voters are fiercely independent. As a result, party lines weren’t as rigid, because a pure approach didn’t reflect our shared values. Politicians had to listen to people instead of blindly following party leadership.

Right now, the legislature is about to vote on a HB 83, a fiscally conservative bill that will save our state $750,000 while increasing voter turnout for a special election May 25, the Thursday right before Memorial Day. We as Montanans value saving money especially when it yields a stronger return.

But it gets better. This bill, thanks to Governor Bullock’s veto, now also allows for local control, where counties can open local polling and incur the additional expense, in our case around $9,000, if so desired.

The original bill presented by Republican Senator Steve Fitzpatrick is supported by most Country Commissioners who understand that “the cost of running elections is borne entirely by counties, using property tax revenues.”

I hope our county will join me to calling and emailing David Howard and Seth Berglee demanding that they uphold our values of fiscally conservatism, local control, and valuing a democratic process available to all.

If they can’t uphold these basic Republican values, I hope we can put forward Republican candidates who will. And if they aren’t up to the task, at this point the Democrats seem to be the party better adhering to those values.